transmediale.11: Response:ability

Transmediale.11 presented a variety of artworks, live performances and film screenings at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt from 1 to 6 February 2011. Titled “RESPONSE:ABILITY”, the festival focused on the Internet as a real-time living environment. Artists, theorists and activists discussed new bio-political, economic and affective dimensions of a society which exists in this real-time network environment. According to the festival’s organizers, participation and interaction via an incessant stream of data are characteristic of our society which is “tuned-in live”. Consequently this is changing how we perceive correlations, tell stories and form social relationships in very fundamental ways.

Transmediale.11 investigated what responsibility and possibilities Internet users have for shaping the Web as a primary zone of interaction and defending it against an increasing array of legal and political measures which aim to control it. The festival also asked how we can continue functioning under the constant flow of events and act independently. It also reflected on the Internet as a political place: The Open Web, which used to be a system requirement, is now a highly contested resource.

Programme
In addition to curated film and video screenings every day, the festival offered audiences a week of salons, performances and installations by such artists as Heather Kelley, Ursula Endlicher, ubermorgen.com and Evan Roth. At the conference BODY:RESPONSE, the invited guests, such as BIFO / Franco Berardi, Maurizio Lazzarato, Tim Etchells, Jordan Crandall, Mark Hansen, Carolyn Guertin, Paul Vanouse and Derrick de Kerckhove, debated how human beings perceive themselves as physical entities and how they experience space and reality during a time when they are increasingly “dematerializing” and digitally enhancing themselves in the Internet. At the sub-conference “Test Signals”, organized by the non-profit organization Sourcefabric, radio producers discussed the future of radio in the digital age.

Competitions
Three competitions were held in 2011: the transmediale Award for outstanding artworks, the Vilém Flusser Theory Award for theoretical-critical works and the new Open Web Award for projects that promote a radical, open Internet.

Artistic director: Stephen Kovats
Artists: BIFO / Franco Berardi, Heath Bunting, Jordan Crandall, Ursula Endlicher, Tim Etchells, Carolyn Guertin, Mark Hansen, Heather Kelley, Derrick de Kerckhove, Maurizio Lazzarato, Open Design City, Evan Roth, Sourcefabric, Elizabeth Stark, Peter Sunde, Kelly Sutton, ubermorgen.com, Paul Vanouse, Mushon Zer-Aviv u.a.